An Indian Air Force C-130J Super Hercules aircraft on November 15 flew a heavy drilling machine from Delhi to Chinyalisaur to bore a safe passage for 40 workers trapped for over three days in an under-construction tunnel 30 km away in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand, officials said.
While the new machine is being put into service, co-workers of those trapped inside expressed dismay at the progress of the multi-agency rescue operations. They gathered at the entry of the tunnel on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri National Highway and shouted slogans protesting against the “slow” pace of the operation to rescue their colleagues trapped for over 72 hours now.
Workers on November 15, 2023 protest over the delay in rescuing fellow workers trapped for over three days inside an under-construction tunnel between Silkyara and Dandalgaon on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri national highway in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district. | Photo Credit: PTI
The initial plan was to use an “auger machine” to drill through the rubble of the tunnel’s collapsed portion and insert 800-mm and 900-mm diameter sections of mild steel pipes one after the other. Once this is done, the workers trapped on the other side can crawl out to safety.
But the first drilling machine turned out to be too slow and technical issues developed, the officials said. Also, falling debris inside the tunnel damaged the equipment and injured two rescue workers on Tuesday.
The replacement machine came in two parts and was being transported by road to the tunnel, about two hours away, Superintendent of Police, Uttarkashi, Arpan Yaduvanshi said.
“We will start installing it as soon as it arrives and in four hours it will begin the drilling operation. With a capacity to penetrate four to five metres of rubble per hour, we can expect it to penetrate 50 metres through the rubble in 10 hours,” Anshu Manish Khalkho, Director, National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd., said.
A portion of the tunnel, part of the ambitious Char Dham all-weather road project, collapsed on Sunday. The 30-metre collapsed section is 270 metres from the mouth of the tunnel from the Silkyara side. Officials said the labourers were safe, and oxygen, electricity, medicines, food and water were being supplied to them through pipes.
Mr. Khalkho, however, said it was not possible to specify a time frame for the evacuation but efforts were on to make headway at the earliest and rescue them all safely. Constant communication is being maintained, he said.
The list of the trapped workers issued by the emergency operation centre says 15 are from Jharkhand, eight from Uttar Pradesh, five from Odisha, four from Bihar, three from West Bengal and two each from Uttarakhand and Assam. One is from Himachal Pradesh.
Tuesday’s landslip and slow performance of the drilling machine deployed earlier hampered efforts to insert steel pipes through the tunnel’s debris to create the passage, Mr. Khalkho’s said.
